1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION.
The field of the invention is devices which enable a fire fighter whose vision has been impaired such as by being in a dark or smoke filled building to utilize fire hose lines to find the source of the initial hose connection and thus his way out of the building.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART.
One of the primary concerns of fire fighting personnel is that of becoming lost in a burning building or smoke filled building where the fire fighter does not know which direction is outside. It is common when these incidents happen for the fire fighter to follow the hose lines, knowing that the hose connects from the outside source of water to the water spraying nozzle at the fire. However, if the fire fighter has lost his sense of direction, or does not even know which direction is "out", he takes a 50% chance in following the hose lines that he will follow in the wrong direction. This is most especially true when he's not at the spraying nozzle end of the hose. Even then, if the hose from the nozzle becomes a jumbled mass by doubling back on itself before it returns to the water pumper, or a multiple of hoses are used during the fire, the fire fighter may be placed to a great deal of difficulty to continue in a direction initially started since it would be very easy to lose a particular hose or at least the direction in the same hose if it goes into a jumbled mass. Consequently, in such a situation, it might be necessary for the fire fighter to retreat to the periphery of the jumbled mass to choose another hose to follow and then he again has only a 50% chance of selecting the correct direction to follow.
While there are a plethora of information transmitting placards or other devices which are sensitive to one's feel, yet these devices reside primarily in the areas available to the blind, such as braille, or are devices which are embedded into roadways which inform a pedestrian, or an automobile, that they have done a certain thing or are about to do something. For example, Dofsen, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,990 has devised a method of preparing roadways so that a rumble is given off by automobile tires as they roll over it such as to warn of an approaching danger, for example, railroad tracks. Furrey, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,647,861 and Hoff, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,698,594 show markers having raised studs or projections designed to be emplaced in roads indicating such information as zoning for pedestrians, crosswalks, and the like. These are warnings intended for the pedestrian, in walking upon the markers, to feel and know that they are in or are approaching such a zone.
However, to the Inventor's knowledge, no markers or other identification has been placed upon fire hoses or the like as a safety measure to allow fire fighters or other parties trapped in a building where visibility has been lost to be able to ascertain direction to the outside by knowing assuredly through an identification means that a hose is leading to the outside and not further into the building.
Accordingly, it is apparent that a device which attaches to a fire fighting hose which at all times points to the source of initial hose connection, i.e., in the direction of the water pumper and the outside of the building, would be obviously a very important factor in helping fire fighters or other persons lost in a burning building or a smoke filled building in being able to follow the fire hose to exit the building.